5 Jazzy Pentatonic Scale Patterns

As many guitarists begin playing rock, blues and pop music before exploring jazz, one of the first scales we have under our fingers are the various positions of the major and minor pentatonic scales. To help you translate these commonly used scales to a jazz context, here are 5 jazz pentatonic scale patterns that you can work on in the woodshed as you bring your pentatonic knowledge into the jazz realm.

While the examples in this lesson are applied to the first position of a minor pentatonic scale, any of these patterns can be applied to any position of any pentatonic scale that you know or are working on in the practice room.

While each pattern in this lesson is written in ascending order only, you can also practice these patterns descending any pentatonic scale that you apply them to in your jazz guitar practice routine.

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Pentatonic Scale Patterns 1 – 123

The first pattern consists of a 3-note grouping that you play from each note in the scale. When doing so, you produce a 123, 234, 345, etc. pattern as you ascend the scale with this three-note shape.

As was noted in the intro, make sure to work this, and any, pattern ascending and descending the scale as you expand upon it further in your jazz guitar practice routine.

Pentatonic Scale Patterns 2 – Left vs. Right 1

The next scale pattern is based on the left vs. right nature of any pentatonic scale shape. When you play pentatonic scale using two notes per string, you have a left side of the scale (the notes closest to the nut) and a right side of the scale (the notes closest to the pickups).

You can use this construction to your advantage when working on pentatonic scale patterns by playing two notes on the left side of the scale followed by two notes on the right side.

When doing so, you are emphasizing a lot of 4th intervals within the scale, which produces a modern sounding pattern as you ascend and descend the scale in your practicing and jazz guitar soloing ideas.

Pentatonic Scale Patterns 3 – Left vs. Right 2

You can also play 3 notes on each side of the scale, as you can see and hear in the next scale pattern.

When playing this pentatonic scale pattern, make sure that you make three-note group connected, yet don’t let them ring so much that they sound like a chord being strummed.

Aim for connected, yet not overlapping, sounds when playing each of these three-note shapes on either side of the pentatonic scale in your practice and soloing ideas based on this pattern.

Pentatonic Scale Patterns 4 – Enclosures

This pattern applies a commonly used bebop concept, the enclosure, to each of the notes in a pentatonic scale.

There are many variations of the enclosure in jazz, but the one we’ll focus on uses one fret above, one fret below, and then the target note from the scale.

When applying enclosures to the minor pentatonic scale, as you can hear in the example below, there is an outside/tense sound that is created with the two chromatic notes, which are then resolved into each note in the underlying scale.

Pentatonic Scale Patterns 5 – Side Stepping

The final pattern comes from a concept commonly used by saxophonist John Coltrane, among others, and it is called side stepping.

This technique uses two pentatonic scales, your tonic scale and one a fret higher, to build an “inside-outside” or “tension and release” sound in your practicing and soloing ideas.

In this example, you will play 4 notes from the A minor pentatonic scale, followed by 4 notes from the Bb minor pentatonic scale, alternating between these two scales as you ascend all six strings on the fretboard.

This pattern can be a bit dissonant for some players, but give it a try as you might be surprised at how quickly your ears will adjust and this type of slippery, outside sound becomes normal in both your technical and improvisational patterns.

After you have worked on these scale patterns, try putting on a backing track and soloing over that track using one or more of these patterns as the basis for your improvised lines.

Scale patterns are a great way to learn new scales, develop your technique on the guitar, as well as provide you material that you can apply to your jazz guitar solos at the same time.

Hi Dirk, I was moved by “BILLY’S” comment (May 6th).It highlights the fact that your web site is not JUST a great resource for budding Blues/Jazz guitarists:it’s a great example of caring and sharing.Perhaps it’s the yardstick by which others should be measured. Billy wrote: “I am poor and can not afford lesson but it is because of your freely giving that I can learn. God bless you.” Amen, to that. Wilhelm

A great site wonderful lessons, tutorials and comments however the sheer scale of content in learning jazz guitar or any other jazz instrument, is overpowering. Not only where does one start but which strand does one follow after starting! Life is certaily NOT boring!

Hi Dirk Thanks the pentatonic scale is a wonderful tool. Yes, as many, or all of musicians i started playing pentatonics without knowing is pentatonics and since i got some scale books, i lernt it. Great lesson! Dirk, is it possible to get pentatonic scale patterns from Steve Khan? I love the way he play the pentatonic, so i sugest you to put in this forum. Thanks Dirk.

Dirk, Thanks again! I like to be able to put in a different sound. Very nice. If the chord progression is a 12 bar RandB, is there anything you can do to change the 4 and 5 chord improv in a similar way? Thanks. Rick

Thanks for the continued lessons which are motivating and interesting. I have a technical question regarding fingering. When playing the same fret on sequential strings (Bb, Eb, Ab) do you rely on one finger or alternate with others? I’ve heard the former can contribute to carpal tunnel issues.

Hey, I mean two or more notes. So if you have notes on the 5th fret 6th and 5th strings in a row, I would play both of those notes with one finger, probably my index. If you have 5th fret on the 6th, 5th and 4th strings I would do the same. That’s all.

Hi Matt, I wonder how you do the fingering with that enclosure one. In real world playing (other than practising scales) I guess it is not an issue as you don’t use the concept in a constant row. but here? it’s kinda hard to find a fingering that feels “correct”..million thanks for all, btw. 🙂

Excellent transitional lesson for us blues/rock players. I can’t wait to work on this. I’m getting back to jazz late in life, and lessons like this give me the confidence that maybe I can learn this stuff before I forget how to even play a guitar!

Excellent examples for someone like me who has been playing awhile but is still relatively new to jazz guitar improvisational concepts. Great way to show us blues and rock guys struggling to learn some jazz vocabulary how some simple ideas and techniques can open the door to using familiar patterns – like the minor pentatonic scale – in a jazz context.

Do you have a video showing fingerings for the enclosures? I assume one needs three fingers for these enclosures, unless there is a slide from the leading tone below. I guess there’s not much for options, but I’d be interested in how you make these happen smoothly.

Hi Mike, I like to do 2-1-1 on the “left” side of the scale, where you would normally play the notes with your index finger. For the other notes on the “right” side of the scale/string, I use 423. Cheers.

Matt & Dirk, the quality and variety you offer is amazing. Practice cannot be dull. Through your site I’m getting the sounds I want to hear me play. No waiting. Just, sigh, a shortage of practice time. Thanks ever so much.